One packaged integrated circuit (IC) having on-chip termination circuitry to terminate input/output (I/O) lines draws current from a termination voltage supply depending on the signal on each terminated I/O line. As the signal on a terminated I/O line varies, however, the amount of current drawn through a termination voltage delivery network from the termination voltage supply varies, introducing noise into the supplied termination voltage due to parasitic inductances in, for example, package leads and bond wires of the termination voltage delivery network. Such noise limits the speed or frequency at which signals may be reliably transmitted and/or received on the terminated I/O lines.
A static current shunt may be used for each terminated I/O line to continue drawing the same amount of current from the termination voltage supply regardless of the signal on the terminated I/O line to avoid variations in current drawn through the termination voltage delivery network and therefore to avoid noise in the supplied termination voltage. The static current shunt for each terminated I/O line draws the same amount of current as the termination circuitry for that line and may therefore substantially increase the amount of power consumed by the IC. The increased power consumption by the IC may add to the cost and/or complexity of the IC and/or of the systems using the IC to account for and dissipate the resulting increased heat, may fail to meet power requirements for systems using the IC, and/or may add to the cost to operate the IC.